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BATTLE HYMN', by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: All-feeling god, hear in the war-night
Last Line: (he shall be white amid the smoking cane)


All-feeling God, hear in the war-night
The rolling voices of a nation;
Through dusky billows of darkness
See the flash, the under-light, of bared swords-
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Deep in the streams of the universe-
Bend and see a people, O, God,
A people rebuked, accursed,
By him of the many lungs
And by him of the bruised weary war-drum
(The chanting disintegrate and the two-faced eagle)
Bend and mark our steps, O, God.
Mark well, mark well, Father of the Never-Ending Circles
And if the path, the new path, lead awry
Then in the forest of the lost standards
Suffer us to grope and bleed apace
For the wisdom is Thine.
Bend and see a people, O, God,
A people applauded, acclaimed,
By him of the raw red shoulders
The manacle-marked, the thin victim
(He lies white amid the smoking cane)
-And if the path, the new path, leads straight-
Then-O, God-then bare the great bronze arm;
Swing high the blaze of the chained stars
And let them look and heed
(The chanting distintegrate and the two-faced eagle)
For we go, we go in a lunge of a long blue corps
And-to Thee we commit our lifeless sons,
The convulsed and furious dead.
(They shall be white amid the smoking cane)
For, the seas shall not bar us;
The capped mountains shall not hold us back
We shall sweep and swarm through jungle and pool,
Then let the savage one bend his high chin
To see on his breast, the sullen glow of the death-medals
For we know and we say our gift.
His prize is death, deep doom.
(He shall be white amid the smoking cane.)






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